Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 257,000 in January, and the unemployment rate
was little changed at 5.7 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.
Job gains occurred in retail trade, construction, health care, financial activities,
and manufacturing.

The economy continues to slowly but surely add more and more jobs. I wish we could have done this sooner and quicker but we have a Congress that doesn’t want to do anything that would help the average American worker. Can you spell – STIMULUS? An additional stimulus would have avoided the pain that millions of Americans felt because they were out of work for months or years.

59 straight months with private section adding jobs

Term

Private Sector Jobs Added (000s)

Carter

9,041

Reagan 1

5,360

Reagan 2

9,357

GHW Bush

1,510

Clinton 1

10,885

Clinton 2

10,070

GW Bush 1

-844

GW Bush 2

381

Obama 1

2,018

Obama 2

5,5421 (124 months into 2nd term: 11,084 pace.)

Read more at http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2015/02/public-and-private-sector-payroll-jobs.html#zK1jpdLecMH5Db00.99

Let’s let this last table sink in for a while. With all of the bad-mouthing of Obama he is on pace to have created more jobs during his last 4 years in office than any other president over the last 35 years. This includes Reagan.

My fellow Americans – tonight, I want to speak to you about what the United States will do with our friends and allies to degrade and ultimately destroy the terrorist group known as ISIL.

As Commander-in-Chief, my highest priority is the security of the American people. Over the last several years, we have consistently taken the fight to terrorists who threaten our country. We took out Osama bin Laden and much of al Qaeda’s leadership in Afghanistan and Pakistan. We’ve targeted al Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen, and recently eliminated the top commander of its affiliate in Somalia. We’ve done so while bringing more than 140,000 American troops home from Iraq, and drawing down our forces in Afghanistan, where our combat mission will end later this year. Thanks to our military and counterterrorism professionals, America is safer.

Still, we continue to face a terrorist threat. We cannot erase every trace of evil from the world, and small groups of killers have the capacity to do great harm. That was the case before 9/11, and that remains true today. That’s why we must remain vigilant as threats emerge. At this moment, the greatest threats come from the Middle East and North Africa, where radical groups exploit grievances for their own gain. And one of those groups is ISIL – which calls itself the “Islamic State.”

Now let’s make two things clear: ISIL is not “Islamic.” No religion condones the killing of innocents, and the vast majority of ISIL’s victims have been Muslim. And ISIL is certainly not a state. It was formerly al Qaeda’s affiliate in Iraq, and has taken advantage of sectarian strife and Syria’s civil war to gain territory on both sides of the Iraq-Syrian border. It is recognized by no government, nor the people it subjugates. ISIL is a terrorist organization, pure and simple. And it has no vision other than the slaughter of all who stand in its way.

In a region that has known so much bloodshed, these terrorists are unique in their brutality. They execute captured prisoners. They kill children. They enslave, rape, and force women into marriage. They threatened a religious minority with genocide. In acts of barbarism, they took the lives of two American journalists – Jim Foley and Steven Sotloff. (more…)

The greatness of Robin Williams should not be understated. Back when cable was new, a friend and I, being in college, were slightly inebriated and we watched Robin Williams’ HBO special, Comedy Faster Than the Speed of Thought. We almost blew out double hernias laughing so hard. It was painful. Unlike some other comedians, Robin Williams has never lost the ability to do standup. He has this stream of consciousness that is simply amazing to watch. Here he is on some show that I’ve never heard of, introduced by one of my favorite comedic actors John Cleese of Monty Python fame.

One of the great lines from this stand up is, “Where did they get Sarah Palin? Did Ronald Reagan and Posh Spice have a child?”

Update: Robin Williams died today. I have had a special relationship with Robin Williams since the early 1980s. There was no one who was funnier. I loved his movies. I loved his spirit. I’ll miss him.

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Errington C. Thompson, MD

Dr. Thompson is a surgeon, scholar, full-time sports fan and part-time political activist. He is active in a number of community projects and initiatives. Through medicine, he strives to improve the physical health of all he treats.

A Letter to America

There are many books which have been written documenting the issues of the Bush Presidency; A Letter to America draws the reader a clearer more concise picture of major policies of this White House.